The California Energy Commission recently released its data on California in-state capacity and generation for 2022. According to its figures, clean energy (non-carbon-emitting) sources amounted to 50 percent of in-state power generation. But clean energy production has the potential to improve greatly because large hydro is currently producing far below its capacity and Diablo Canyon […]
Opinion
Posted inOpinion
Competition breeds complaints
Do food trucks have an unfair advantage over restaurants? I’m guessing that food truck owners would say no. After all, it’s not like a thief can just steal a brick-and-mortar restaurant. They can and do steal food trucks. It’s happening all over the U.S. Can you imagine waking up one morning and your entire business […]
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On the record
Let the record show that Leah Braitman from “beautiful Lompoc” flipped 5th District Supervisor Steve Lavagnino off during an extremely entertaining hearing about valves on an oil pipeline. In what may have been a first for the longest-serving supervisor on the dais, Braitman was over her time limit during the public comment period, took her […]
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Local supervisors, planning commissioners change land-use rules to punish some and reward other applicants
It never ceases to amaze me how the powers that be, including the Board of Supervisors and the county Planning Commission, can abuse the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) to punish some applicants and reward others. Two recent cases demonstrate the county’s bias when applying CEQA requirements and its own land use code requirements. The […]
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Our local leadersare selling us out to transplants, visitors
For years I have been hearing that California has a “housing crisis.” Where is this growing demand for housing coming from? It appears to me that what California actually has is a “population crisis.” The marketing forces imposed on locals by an ever-increasing population of nonnatives is driving up the cost of existing housing and […]
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The cartoonist crossed the line
Your local political cartoonist (Mayfield) needs to take a vacation. Normally his conservative cartoons are corny, but I understand they are a counterpoint to also running the liberal This Modern World every other week. However, the cartoon in the Aug. 3 Sun was over the top—who needs to open the editorial page to see a […]
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Slavery is not a thing of the past
Wake up, people! Slavery is not a thing of the past but very much alive. Definition of slavery: Anyone who makes a claim upon yourself or your property is making you a slave. A slave is a victim of any who claims authority over another. “We the People” have become slaves of those who have […]
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Fair is fair
The eagle has landed. Actually, the eagle may get chopped to bits by a big blade before it lands, and BayWa doesn’t have a permit for that yet, but it’s just a little hiccup. A little baby bump in the road that’s definitely not stopping a Lompoc wind project from moving forward. Planning Commissioners gave […]
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We need to find common ground as we head toward the next election
The month of August regularly serves up earthshaking, history-making events: • Two years ago in August, the U.S. finally pulled out of Afghanistan after our longest war. • On Aug. 6, 1945, our nation dropped the first of two atomic bombs on Japan, soon ending World War II. That’s the event at the center of […]
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Orange-collar crimes
Santa Maria City Council member Gloria Soto is extremely concerned about the school-to-prison pipeline. It was in full swing between 1997 and 2021 in the Santa Maria Joint Union High School District, if you take her comments at a recent board meeting at face value. “The last thing I want to do is perpetuate the […]
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Lompoc’s Kentucky Fried Chicken was a remodel blunder
“Stop work; substantial work completed without a permit,” on a red tag affixed to your project is one thing a project manager and/or building owner doesn’t want to see. Last October, the Lompoc Planning Commission held a public hearing to consider the architectural design and site development review for the KFC remodel project. The architecturally […]
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We need the Dana Reserve project
I support the housing development known as the Dana Reserve in Nipomo. Our area is in desperate need of housing, especially affordable housing for young, working adults. This neighborhood will directly address this need by providing a significant number of affordable housing units, which will enable young people like my own kids to find suitable […]
